John Lewell - Street Photography Is Cool

Street Photography
Is Cool

by John Lewell

For Oi Cheepchaiissara

"...and where is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversations?"
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures Under Ground.

Preface and Introduction

"Street Photography Is Cool...
...and This Book Explains Why"

Preface

I've been meaning to write a book on street photography for the last year or two, but have waited until collecting enough half-way decent photos to illustrate the points I needed to make.

I suggest you read the Introduction and continue with the first few chapters, but you can dive in and out of the book at different places if you wish. The chapters are short, and, I hope, fairly easy to read even when the concepts are challenging.

The work is entirely my own: text, photos and e-book design, so I'm skipping the acknowledgements page. However, I'd like to say thank you to all those who've been in front of my camera when I've taken a photo. Without you, the general public, there would be no book.

Introduction

No, that's not me in the photo. I'm the guy behind the camera. That's where I prefer to be, although sometimes other street photographers insist on putting me in their pictures which is OK. I can't really complain, can I?

These days I take only street photos. You'll find out why during the course of reading this book. I truly love street photography and I've decided it's time to share my passion and perhaps even give away a few secrets.

To many people, street photography is a thoroughly disreputable activity. The art world ignores it; and even the photographic industry doesn't seem much interested. There is no ideal street photographer's camera, as there is for other genres, such as landscape or sports.

I don't talk much about cameras in this book. You can find that kind of information anywhere. Here, I'm going to talk about everything else, with street photography the unifying thread.

First: a Quick Question

Which of these shots do you prefer? The one above, or the previous one in this Introduction?

It's not a trick question. I really don't mind whether you prefer one or the other. Yet I think most people would recognise the ironic humour of the shot above (Banana Guy) , and, unless they've developed an eye for street photography, prefer it to the earlier shot.

However, I'm hoping that those who chose the second example will change their minds after reading this book. While Banana Guy is amusing, it's really just an "OK example" of candid street photography. I think it's greatly inferior to the other shot, taken in good light with all the various elements in the right place.

I'll have more to say about Banana Guy later, but honestly, it's only a snap, whereas Allow Me To Introduce Myself is the kind of street photograph I really like to get.

A Difficult Genre

Of all the genres and sub-genres of photography, street photography is the easiest to attempt and the hardest to master. Is it worth the effort? I've been doing it for a decade or more and I think it is. In fact, I think street photography is cool. In this book I want to explain exactly why.

Anyone with a camera almost any camera can walk the streets and photograph people engaged in their usual activities of commuting, shopping, selling, chatting, laughing, arguing, hugging & kissing, parading, demonstrating, busking you know the drill walking the dog, the cat, the ferret mugging, pickpocketing, ram-raiding, in fact doing all kinds of illegal stuff as well as perfectly innocent stuff, like eating, hanging out, or checking their mobile phones.

I'm Not Joking About the Ferret

At least these guys (in the very centre of London) are not on the phone, although the ferret is looking for another way to break up the conversation.

I'm not joking about phones, either. It sometimes seems like ninety-nine percent of human activity on the street does actually consist of people checking their mobile phones. That's why I talk mainly about photographing the one percent of possible other activity, plus occasional lapses when someone with a phone looks sufficiently interesting to become the subject of my attention.

I may have exaggerated slightly, but the point I'm making is this: all human life spills out on to the streets of our major cities and it's there for the taking. It's raw and real, even when it's mundane and unremarkable. For the photographer it's an endless resource that just keeps on giving. Occasionally, very occasionally, it gives unexpected visual treats you'll want to share or perhaps merely treasure for a lifetime.

This Is Not a How-To

I've written at length on street photography in a weekly blog, so I've already had a chance to think comprehensively about the subject with the aim of discussing it. However, neither my blog nor this book are "how-to" exercises, because like all creative arts street photography is not a straightforward do-this/get-that process. There are tactics and strategies you can try (and these I'll describe later), but by far the best way to approach this art-form is to "go it alone" and allow your personal style to develop naturally.

I'm opposed to the process of copying other people's styles. Yes, it's OK to learn from their insights, to pick up and develop their techniques, or even to steal a few ideas if you can make them serve a higher purpose. But to adopt a person's artistic style is to steal that person's identity. Worse: it cuts the essential lifeline between artist and reality. Whatever talent an artist may have for creating visually compelling images, if there's no direct contact with reality the result lacks all conviction.

Street photography's growing popularity has come about, in part, because the audience for visual art has become jaded by the output of painters and indeed photographers who produce work in the studio with hardly any reference to the reality outside. The art world itself seems to sense this shift in sensibility and has reacted by promoting street art (aka graffiti) as a valid and potentially valuable (though hard-to-trade) art form.

A Source of Inspiration

I was heartened recently to read a short piece posted online by the New York Film Academy, entitled "Street Photography to Use as Inspiration." No, the (unnamed) author wasn't telling students to check out the work of famous photographers, but rather to go out and take some street photos as a means of escaping from a creative rut.

That's terrific advice! Any photographic student who's been trying to come up with new concepts or has been wrestling with the technicalities of studio lighting can benefit from walking the streets with a light, hand-held camera. Such an experience has the potential to transform a person's whole approach to photography: and here's why.